5 Takeaways: Week 1

Week 1 is almost in the books. Here are 5 Takeaways from the first week of the season.

5 Takeaways: Week 1

1. Contenders and Pretenders

Timberline Blazers are definitely primed and ready for a title run. With returners like Wichita State signee Erik Stevenson, Cole Hicks, Eli Morton and Casson Rouse these guys are a fast break machine. This team is currently ranked #3 and has been in the discussion for a major title run. I personally feel they have all the pieces they need to go all the way. Defensively they have the athletes to match up against anybody and offensively have the tools to create mismatches all over the court. This will be an exciting team to watch.

River Ridge Hawks are our pretenders to start out with. Overall they are 1-3 and in those losses including the one win they have they have looked very out of sync. They are considerably small for a 2A school and as of right now don’t seem to be heading in the right direction after a very good season last year. We were thinking they would be right back in the conversation with some of the top teams. As of right now that doesn’t seem to be the case. We hope they can turn it around and make some headway this week. If they buckle down and figure out there defensive rotations they could be a .500 team by the end of the week and out of this discussion.

2. Renton Playing well with Youth

After 5 solid games in which Renton has gone 4-1 and demonstrated they can win with youth, they showed their youth against Kennedy Catholic. Renton will have their up and downs due to their youth, but they have plenty of skill and talent. Jaloni Garner and Malik Coates will be looked to greatly to lead this group. With 4 solid wins under their belt, this group has already shown everyone that they will be just fine.

3. Stock Riser: Jeremy Spencer

Despite starting the season 5-0 with a lot of weapons on the team, Jeremy has done everything that he can possibly do in order to give this group a chance to win. He has scored over 20 points in all 5 games this season and is a monster in transition. His relentless work ethic and commitment to success has been quite evident in the ram mentality that he brings to every game. Spencer is the real deal and competes at an extremely high level.

4. Lincoln is Still Relevant

The Abes lost two NCAA D1 prospects who are competing at a high level. In a year where many thought that Lincoln would take a serious step back, they look poised to do the exact opposite. Anthony Braggs is much improved and is getting an opportunity to show what he can do with the extra touches. Further, this group is competing while still working to build championship chemistry. This group will be a force in the state tournament.

5. Capital Cougars looks Stout

With the majority of their team returning, there was anticipation that the Capital Cougars would be good. However, there were question marks due to the partial fall of they had toward the end of the season last year. All things added up: the Cougars looks good. They have started the season 4-0. Further, the most recent win being a 8 point win over a very good Peninsula squad. Dawson Landershas not had as much of a scoring role as he has in the past. He is playing more of a true point guard role and creating for others. Luke Laytonhas been lights out in the early going as well.